UMW MAY NEED ALLY ON CLINTON TEAM

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 31, 1993                   TAG: 9301310039
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: E4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HUNTINGTON, W.VA.                                LENGTH: Medium
UMW MAY NEED ALLY ON CLINTON TEAM
The United Mine Workers will be looking for a sympathetic ear in the Clinton administration if its dispute with the nation's coal operators turns to confrontation.
In all, some 100,000 energy workers represented by the UMW and the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International union face strike deadlines this week.
A walkout would present President Clinton with his first labor crisis.
UMW President Richard Trumka was among the labor leaders who participated in Clinton's December economic summit. He has worked to cement ties with the new administration.
"If you were to ask me one year ago whether I would expect that in 1993 I'd be speaking at the U.S. Department of Labor, before an audience which included a secretary of labor who I consider to be a friend to America's workers, I doubt I'd have taken you seriously," Trumka said in a speech last week.
"Twelve months is a long time," he said.
A spokeswoman for Labor Secretary Robert Reich said Saturday that the agency was monitoring the disputes.
"Secretary Reich is well aware of the situation," said Mary Meagher, Reich's press secretary.
"Conversations continue between the secretary, the department [of labor] and the federal Mediation and Conciliation Service," she said. "We continue to monitor the situation. We have nothing to report as of yet."
The UMW's contract with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association expires at 11:59 p.m. Monday. The agreement covers 60,000 miners in eight states. It also affects the pensions of about 150,000 retired miners.
Both sides have adhered to a "no comment" policy since talks began Nov. 6, so details on the negotiations have been sketchy. Although the union has begun strike preparations, spokesmen have called them routine.
In addition, some 300 contracts covering 40,000 members of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International union expire at midnight today.
Oil workers union President Robert Wages has scheduled a Monday news conference to announce his union's plans. Sources who declined to be named also said an announcement of the UMW's plans was not likely before Monday.
The UMW and the companies of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association could agree to extend their contract while negotiations continue. Other options for the union include working without a contract or striking any one or all of the companies covered by the agreement.
Intervention by Republican Labor Secretary Elizabeth Dole helped resolve the UMW's last major strike, a 1989 campaign against The Pittston Co.
Despite Dole's efforts, the UMW and other unions complained bitterly for years about what they saw as an anti-union bias on the part of the Reagan and Bush administrations.
"For 12 years Presidents Reagan and Bush regarded unions and the workers who join them as their mortal enemies," Trumka said in December as he was on his way to participate in Clinton's pre-inaugural economic conference in Little Rock, Ark.
"Bill Clinton is, I think, sending a clear message that his administration will promote labor-management cooperation, not conflict," Trumka said. "There is no question that we cannot compete globally unless we see a new kind of working partnership between labor, government and the business community."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB